How to Use the Zone System in Photography

Contributor

By Richard Burke
eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating:

(2 Ratings)

Zone System Guide

The Zone System is a photographic technique that was invented by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer in 1941. At that time, most photography was monochromatic and Adams worked out a system for visualization, which he considered to be a creative technique. He believed that you should look at a scene and visualize how you want the tones to look in the image. From that point he could apply exposure science to get the perfect exposure on film. Musicians say that if you can hum a tune, you can play it. Ansel Adams believed that if you could visualize the image, you could photograph it.

The Zone System provides photographers with a method of defining the relationship between the way they visualize the photographic subject and the final results. Although it originated with black and white film, the Zone System is also applicable to color, negative and reversal, and digital photography. The Zone System is still taught today in photography schools and is a relevant tool for digital and film photography and for color and monochrome images.

Read on to find out the basics of how to use the Zone System. Ansel Adams has published many books on the topic as well; if you have interest in exploring it further, see Resources below.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A Camera
A desire to learn

Step 1

Zone System Gradient

The simple tool that Adams and Archer developed is this 11-point monochromatic strip ranging from Step 0 to Step 10. The duo discovered that the 11 zones could be corresponded to exposure values. Exposure values refer to the logarithmic relationship between aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity. Sensitivity is the film or sensor's ability to record light. In his book. “The Negative,” published in 1948, Adams discusses the scientific relationship between exposure value and the Zone System allowing photographers to calculate how to adjust exposure to compress or expand the zones. Again, this all ties into visualization and knowing how you want tones to be reproduced.
Step 2

Zone Descriptions

To aid photographers in visualization, Adams developed descriptions for each zone. Keep in mind that the Zone System strip is positive, but Adams was working with negatives. The pure black of Zone 0 means that the negative was completely clear. This guide is just as relevant today as it was 70 years ago in helping photographers visualize photographic situations. Knowing that a person with light skin is Zone VII and that my meter is balanced for Zone VI tells me I need to close down one stop to achieve the optimum exposure for their skin. Keep in mind light meters today are much more sophisticated than 70 years ago and it is important to understand the operation of your light meter. In any case, a light meter will not help you visualize a scene, but the Zone System will.
Step 3

Contains All 11 Zones

Adams believed that a good scenic image usually displayed all the zones. Of course he acknowledges exceptions even in his own work. His famous "Moon Rise" image is an example of an image with excellent tones, but not necessarily all of the zones. This is an example of an image that has all 11 zones from the specular highlights in the water to the Zone 0 of the background and Zone 1 of the bear's nose. Look through your images and see how many you have that have all 11 Zones. Keep in mind that textures and details are not available in all of the zones. Photographing fabrics and textures will require you to compress the zones. Reading about and understanding this system will help you in planning and exposing your images.
Step 4

Device Independent Color Space

Although the Zone System was developed for monochrome images, it can be applied to color photography as well. Keep in mind that device independent color models like HSV are based on hue, saturation and value. Value refers to the light/dark part of the color and when combined with saturation controls the density of the image. The logarithmic part of exposure value applies here and so does the Zone System. The greater the value, the less detail will be displayed in the image. It is more complicated than monochrome for sure, but not when applied to visualization. Try visualizing your subject in monochrome and apply the Zone System to that visualization. Many photographers and cinematographers carry a viewer that subtracts color from the scene. This allows them to make initial lighting and exposure decisions before considering the color elements. See Resources below for links to learn more about the Zone System and black and white viewing finders.